QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – The Shippensburg University softball team was eliminated from the 2019 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships on Thursday afternoon after a 14-6 loss in five innings to West Chester at Veterans Park.
 
Shippensburg (25-22) will now await the NCAA Selection Show (Monday, 10 a.m. on ncaa.com) to see if it is awarded a regional tournament bid. West Chester (34-18) will face Gannon on Friday in another elimination game. The tournament's two remaining unbeaten teams through the first two days of competition are Lock Haven and Kutztown.
 
The Golden Rams ambushed Shippensburg in the first inning by scoring seven runs, creating an advantage that was simply too much for the Raiders to overcome. SU had to use three pitchers to get through the first inning, but did put forth a strong rally to get back into the game.
 
Shippensburg scored four runs in the bottom of the third to get within three at 8-5. In the fourth, SU scored another run to make it 9-6 and loaded the bases with one out, bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but could not plate any additional runs.
 
In the top of the fifth, West Chester started with four straight singles – three of which never left the infield – before Heidi McCollester clonked a grand slam to create the final scoring margin.
 
The teams combined for 28 hits in five innings – 10 recorded by Shippensburg. Freshmen Morgan DeFeo and Hannah Marsteller each went 3-for-3 in the game, while freshman Hannah Johnson went 2-for-3 with an RBI-double.
 
Marsteller slammed a three-run homer in the third inning – her 10th of the season. She becomes just the fifth player in school history to hit 10 or more home runs in a single season and just the second freshman to do so; her season total is the most since Taylor Weisman (12) and Taylor Pattillo (10) achieved the feat in 2014.
 
Junior Kayla Bonawitz reached base twice with a leadoff double and a walk; she scored twice. Sophomore Courtney Coy had an RBI-groundout, and freshman Grace Palmieri hit an RBI-single. Palmieri had at least one RBI in all three games of the PSAC Championships, finishing the tournament with eight RBIs.
 
Johnson logged the most time in the circle, throwing 3.2 innings of relief and striking out two. Senior Taryn Wilson and freshman Tressa Kagarise pitched in the first inning. Coy came on and got the final three outs in the fifth.